The present invention relates to a process and system for collecting data about thermal properties of roads located in a geographic area and using the collected data to form a database and also relates to a vehicle safety system that uses the database to implement a safety process when a vehicle approaches a location of a potential ice hazard.
Various safety systems have been developed for vehicles, such as automobiles, using technologies that sense the area around the vehicle. Examples of some of these safety systems for vehicles include adaptive cruise control, obstacle warning, curve warning, intersection warning, lane departure warning, collision warning, and adaptive transmission shift control. The adaptive cruise control system maintains and/or resumes a set speed or safe following distance from other vehicles at slower than the set speed based on data about vehicle speed, nearby vehicles and other obstructions, type of road being traveled (motorway vs. local road), road curvature, tilt, elevation, and other factors. The obstacle warning system detects objects around the vehicle and provides warnings about the obstacles to the vehicle driver. The curve warning system detects upcoming curves along the vehicle path and provides warnings to the vehicle driver if the vehicle speed is excessive given the road conditions. The intersection warning system detects upcoming intersections along the vehicle path and provides warnings to the driver, if appropriate. The lane departure warning system detects when the vehicle has departed from a lane and provides warnings to the driver as appropriate. The adaptive shift system control adjusts the gearing and shifting of automatic transmissions based on sensor data about vehicle speed, engine speed, road curvature, tilt, elevation, and other factors.
One relatively new safety system that has been considered is an ice hazard warning system. The ice hazard warning system uses sensors to detect the presence of ice on a road and, if ice is detected, provides the driver with a warning.
Although an ice hazard warning system would be useful, such a system would have limitations. For example, such an ice hazard warning system would have a limited range of detection for ice. A vehicle may encounter a patch of ice along a road before the ice hazard warning system is able to provide a warning. Even if the ice hazard warning system is able to provide a warning before the vehicle encounters a patch of ice, the vehicle may be traveling at a speed such that the ice is encountered before the driver is able to slow down. Accordingly, it would be useful if a driver could be warned about ice hazards sufficiently in advance so that appropriate precautions can be taken, e.g., slow down.